


Little Comforts

by comfortwriter28



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-07
Updated: 2020-09-07
Packaged: 2021-03-06 23:34:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,051
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26343475
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/comfortwriter28/pseuds/comfortwriter28
Summary: Jughead and Archie have a heart to heart while living together about a lot of things and Jug realizes that even if things are hard, Archie still has his back. Set post s1:7
Relationships: Archie Andrews & Jughead Jones
Comments: 2
Kudos: 14





	Little Comforts

“Jug? What are you still doing up?”

His heart freezes as Archie’s voice cuts through the silence of the dark room. He stops mid step and looks over at the bed where the redhead is slowly sitting up, rubbing one eye with his fist and the other glances at the clock as he mumbles, “It’s two in the morning; what’s wrong?”

“Just thinking, don’t worry about it.” He probably should have moved out of the room to pace but Archie usually sleeps like the dead even though his father doesn’t and anyway, most of his life he’s been light footed when walking. The exception was in the school when he-making his own noise was better than the suffocating silence and anyway, there wasn't anyone around to bother.

Instead of listening, Archie replies, “Do you want to talk about it?”

“Nah, it’s all good. Go back to sleep Archie.” And really he doesn’t. Archie wouldn’t understand and that’s a good thing. It’s why he’s always liked the red haired boy. Archie doesn’t understand because he’s from the right side of town. The Andrews’ house has long been a safe, stable place in the madness of the world outside it.

The other boy watches unconvinced until he says, “Is it the-is it Jason?”

He’s pretty proud that he contains his groan because twenty questions with Archie can be very exhausting but then, part of the idea behind pacing was to tire himself out so he replies, “No, it isn’t Jason.”

Archie looks relieved and he can’t blame the other boy because as big as Jason’s murder is, he doesn’t want to always be thinking about it either.

“Is it Reggie? Cause if it is-”

“Nah, Reggie has been laying off, you must have shown him, getting punched in the face so well.” It’s a bit of a low blow but Archie huffs and shrugs it off.

“Is it about Jellybean?”

And that hurts because it is and isn’t. He misses his sister a lot and he wants her back but at the same time...she’s been physically gone for so long now that as much as he wants her back, it seems too impossible to seriously consider.

“Is it your dad?”

“What happens-” His voice breaks off and leave it to Archie to even get this far because he doesn’t want to talk about it, and yet strangely, he doesn’t want to stop either. “What happens if I can’t bring him back?”

It’s one of the questions that’s been keeping him up for nights. What if he’s wrong? He doesn't hope by principle, it takes too much energy, goes against his inclination for apathy, and the price of being wrong is much too high. And yet, he has to hope his dad can give up the drinking and get a steady job and bring the family back together. If he doesn’t hope, no one will and then who is supposed to fight for their family? But if he doesn’t hope, then he can’t get hurt, not more than he already is, not hurt in the way that matters most, the way that might not heal. If he can’t bring his dad back, then it’s proof that his father doesn’t love him, at least not enough to give up drinking for him, for them.

A pair of muscular arms wrap around him and his head is pressed against Archie’s chest, smooshing his nose. He stiffens because he’s never been big on physical contact except for Jellybean and he’s spent so long with his only form of it being Reggie and his goons that he almost expects pain but it doesn’t come, not physically at least. Instead he's hit by the realization that even if he has never been a fan of it, he's desperately missed all the gentle touches, the shoulder nudges and knocking knees at a lunch table or at Pop's.

Archie rubs his back in big, slow circles and despite the realization he's come to, he mumbles, “We’re too old for this Arch.”

It’s mean and unfair and maybe not even how he really feels but when he hears the words they don’t sound right and he realizes it’s because they come out in breathy gasps between tears he didn’t know he was crying.

“We’ll never be too old for this. And this time we aren't in front of the whole school so you don't have an excuse.”

The joke almost makes him laugh, even if it isn’t very funny.

Archie continues because he’s still crying too hard as much as he doesn’t want to. “And your dad will come around. He has you! He has to. And your mom and Jellybean will come back and it’ll be great, you’ll see.”

His breath hitches because Archie can say that, Archie can be optimistic, it isn’t his family on the line. It isn’t him who will face the-humiliation if he’s wrong. Not being popular at school? Fine, he can deal with that. Not having a lot of friends? He’d rather quality over quantity anyway. But not being loved by his own parents? What is he supposed to do about that? They’re supposed to love him and if they don’t doesn’t that mean he really is that unlikeable? His friend's parents, for all their many imperfections, love his friends. The kids at school, even Archie sometimes, complain about being grounded or getting in trouble and he gets it, he would hate to be grounded. Maybe not though. Maybe even in the moment of it happening he could appreciate it for what it is, his dad trying to keep him safe. But that would involve the man being sober enough to notice or care and the thought that he doesn't hurts in a uniquely humiliating way that someone like Archie thankfully can't understand.

He feels Archie maneuver them to the bed and sit them down, and he manages to finally start controlling his crying. It’s another few minutes before he finally manages to mumble into his best friend’s shirt, “Thank you.”

Archie hums in reply, he can feel one of the other boy’s fingers twirling a curl on the back of his head poking out from under his hat and he adds the simple motion to the list of things he's desperately missed and didn't even realize.

“Was that the only thing keeping you awake?”

It’s asked with such innocence that he almost thinks he could deny it but for how oblivious Archie is about most things, and people, every once in a while it’ll be like he can read minds...or at least his best friend’s mind.

“Lots of things but it’s fine. Let's just both go back to sleep.”

“Stay here tonight?”

“Duh. Where else am I going to go?”

He moves to stand up but Archie grabs his hand. “I meant here here.”

His face flushes red as he replies, “C’mon we’re way too old to share a bed.”

“Then this can be the last time. Please? Only for a bit. For me?”

And he does, because he’s never been good at refusing Archie when he takes that tone, the one that’s so soft and gentle and pleading and with a sigh he lets Archie maneuver both of them, he's too tired to really help and the redhead doesn’t need it anyway. And then they’re laying there, on their backs looking at the ceiling, sharing the pillow like they’re eleven and he’s afraid of thunder or Archie is having a bad night that year or two after Mrs. Andrews left. Archie’s hand find his and their fingers lace together easily and for a while they lay there in total silence besides their own breathing.

It feels so natural it hurts and he finds himself creeping closer to Archie’s side, nodding off slowly but waking himself up because if this is the last time, he wants it to last as long as possible. He tries to think of something to say that won't ruin the moment but all he can come up with is, "What made you ask me to stay up here with you?"

"My best friend needed me and I didn't even know." Archie's voice cracks slightly and he squeezes the other boy's hand. "And it was my fault he was in a bad spot because I avoided him all summer and I hurt him and myself because if he had been around I wouldn't be-I probably wouldn't have made the decisions I did this summer."

"That's not on you."

"If I had known you were living at the drive in-"

"But you didn't because I didn't tell you."

"I didn't give you a reason to."

He's too tired to try arguing so instead he whispers, "I'm sorry about Ms. Grundy."

“Sorry it happened or sorry she’s gone?” Archie sounds tense and wary as he asks.

“Sorry you got hurt.”

It’s not the whole truth, he’s sorry he wasn’t around to stop Archie from entering the relationship, or around to have tried stopping it once it started, or around even at the end for a night he’s sure Archie considers terrible even though Jug hopes one day he’ll look back on it and be happy.

Archie seems to accept his offered answer and mumbles, “Thanks.”

They slip into silence again and once more he fights dozing off until finally he mumbles, “I’m scared of Mom coming back.”

“What?”

"I don't know why she left me.”

He feels Archie suck in a breath but he continues. 

“She took JB and I’m happy cause she’s too young to see any of this but I can’t-I don’t know why she didn’t take me too.”

“She didn’t know what she was missing.”

“Or she didn’t want me.”

It’s the other fear that’s been keeping him up. That it isn’t Dad she was running away from, that the reason she took JB and not him was because she didn’t want him around anymore and no matter what he did, it was all over and had been for all these lonely months. He doesn’t think he can handle that, especially because it would mean he loses Jellybean too. All three of them, gone.

He feels Archie move and for a second he almost panics but the other boy is only rolling onto his side and tossing an arm over him.

“Her loss. If she didn’t want you-that’s her mistake. And I’m happy. If you were gone-I don’t know where I’d be.”

His throat closes up and he can think of about a dozen ways to reply most of which are some level of sarcastic and a diversion from how he's feeling. Instead he mumbles, "Thanks." At least it's honest. Archie wanting him isn't the same as his mom wanting him but Archie is here. Next to him, solid and warm and smelling like his deodorant and the fabric softener Mr. Andrews uses, and it's not the same thing but it's something and a lot better than the last few months.

"I mean it. If your mom didn't want you then she was wrong and I'm glad you're here." 

He squeezes the hand and feels Archie squeeze back and maybe this can work. Maybe if his mom doesn't move back and he has to wait two more years to go find Jellybean on his own he can do so knowing that he still has family waiting for him.

"Hey Jug?"

"Hmm?"

"Never again right?"

"Never again what?"

"Us. We're not going to grow apart again right? We made that mistake and we won't make it again right?"

Oh. "No. Even if one of us moves away or we aren't physically as close we'll still be best friends."

"Brothers."

"Brothers." He agrees without any hesitation.

They lapse into silence again that stretches on longer than the others until Archie breaks it with a quiet chuckle which turns into a story about him and Betty having a lip sync battle through their windows, which turned into an outlandish conversation of imagining Betty as a rock star with a hairbrush microphone.

He dozes that night, on and off, but most of it is spent whispering stories, jokes, and secrets to Archie and listening to the other boy's in return. Laying there like that, morning doesn't seem so close or so scary.

**Author's Note:**

> So I started watching this show about a week ago and it's slow going cause I don't have a lot of time but I really liked the relationship between these two, then I set about looking for fan fiction and decided to add my own. Hope you all enjoy, let me know what you think in the comments, and thank you to De_La_Cruz87 for her help beta reading this!


End file.
